Vegetable and fruit prices shot up by between 300 and 400 per cent on the eve of the holy month in the previous two years.
But a tour of Al Mena fruit and vegetable market – Abu Dhabi's largest – this week revealed that while some prices had risen slightly, others remained unchanged – and a few had fallen.
The price of 1kg of cucumber has risen from Dh4 to Dh6, but last year the price before Ramadan soared from Dh3 to Dh9. And a 7kg box of marrows has remained unchanged at Dh19 for the past month, while last year the price hit Dh55.
Two years ago the price of 1kg of parsley leaped to Dh40 during Ramadan, but this year it has climbed more modestly from Dh5 to Dh12. A 7kg box of mangoes – which last year cost Dh45 – can be bought now for Dh25.
"Prices before and during Ramadan are low compared with the past two years and consumers will not see any large or sudden increases because there are large stocks of imported fruit and vegetables," said Mahmoud Khalil Al Jabour, owner of Bilal Vegetables and Fruit Shop at the market.
"The big problem dealers face is the high cost of renting refrigerated trucks. A truck that previously cost Dh10,000 to rent is now Dh18,000. However, this increase will not greatly affect food prices.
"Complaints from consumers about price rises before and during Ramadan in past years came after dealers took advantage of the arrival of the season and increased the price of fruit and vegetables by Dh2 or Dh3 per kg.
"But dealers have had little opportunity to increase prices this year due to the large supply of fruit and vegetables in the shops. This has resulted in consumers searching for shops that sell products at lower prices."
Other examples of more modest increases at the market this year include tomatoes – a 9kg box costs Dh20 and 1kg is Dh3, while last year the prices were Dh43 and Dh6 respectively. And a 12kg box of bananas that last year cost Dh65 is now Dh12.
There have been slight increases in the prices of some fruits such as Turkish grapes, pears, cherries and oranges over the past two weeks. But a 30-piece box of African apples costs just Dh25 compared with Dh30 before Ramadan last year.
Prices at Zayed City's fruit and vegetable market are higher than those at Al Mena – 1kg costs an additional Dh0.5 or Dh1 and a box costs an extra Dh3. This is because the Zayed City market is in the middle of Abu Dhabi and demand from consumers is high. In addition the market is air-conditioned.
Outlets such as Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society, Carrefour, LuLu and Al Falah Plaza are competing with each other to provide special offers for a large number of food products.
Faisal Al Arshi, Co-operative Society Deputy General Manager, said: "The society is offering Ramadan baskets of basic items, which are very useful for consumers and enable them to make big savings. "In addition we have special discounts on hundreds of products, including 256 that we have been selling at cost price for the past few months. We purchased large quantities six months ago and stored them so that we could sell them to consumers at attractive prices.
"It would not be possible for food in the UAE to go down to the levels of 2006. But if you compare today's prices with last year's you will find that the current ones are at least 30 per cent lower."
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